UFO experts have described Shropshire as a hive of activity and believe something “big” is going on in the county.

Following dozens of reports of unidentified lights in the sky over the past three months Philip Hoyle, of the UFO Investigation and Research Unit, has revealed that an investigation is under way. It is focusing on the Hope and Rea Valleys in the south of the county.

Farmers in the area reported finding a number of mutilated animals after seeing strange lights.

Mr Hoyle, of the Shrewsbury-based unit, said: “We have got a highly active area in the Hope and Rea Valley near Bishop’s Castle and Ludlow where we continually have sightings from farmers.

“We have farmers who are not renowned for flights of fancy telling us of lights and discs over their farms.”

He added: “There are about 35 people in these valleys that claim to have been involved in abduction over the last 20 years and they are all unrelated.

“They are all professional people and they are all saying the same thing - something is going on here.” Mr Hoyle said 10 years ago a man reported spotting a “disc” while driving over the Burway near Church Stretton.

He was later interviewed by military intelligence officers.

“Shropshire does seem to have more than its fair share of activity and we are investigating the valley area,” Mr Hoyle added.

“People are seeing things and experiencing things and we have animal mutilations in the area.

“Farmers are finding animals dissected to such a precision that even Defra cannot explain it.

“They can see the lights then they find the animals. Animals are being killed but nobody can see anything.”

Over the past three months a number of Shropshire Star readers have spotted strange lights in the skies.

The latest report comes from Neil Gregory, of Ditherington, Shrewsbury.

He said he spotted an orange glowing light above Haughmond Abbey on Saturday at about 10.30pm. The 56-year-old said he thought it was a plane on fire at first.

“It was an orange glow and it was pulsating, my wife saw it as well,” he said. “It stopped and hovered and was pulsating for 20 to 30 seconds then it disappeared in about six seconds.”

ODD SHAPES AND SIGHTS

* July 1 - Pilot David Bemand sees orange lights over Ludlow at about 10pm. Candice Taylor, 23, of Burford, Brookside, Telford, spots a shape resembling a basket in the night sky.

Mr Bemand, who has held a private pilot’s licence for 22 years, was at home in Luston when he saw the lights.

* July 27 - Four mysterious lights seen above Ironbridge at about 9.40pm. Lauren Crouch saw the lights and managed to photograph them.

* August 14 - Julie Cooper, 49, of Church Street, Broseley, Telford sees mysterious lights above her mother’s house in Jackson Avenue, Broseley at about midnight.

* August 15 - Mother-of-one Marion Groves and her husband Jim, of Hinkshay Road, Dawley, see two white lights hovering between 8.30pm and 11pm. Nina and Bill Hall see lights on the same night as they drive back to Aqueduct from Bridgnorth along the A442.